Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for displaying a cursor along a two dimensional representation of a computer generated three dimensional surface

US5577176A · kind A · utility

16Cited by
5References
51Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 23, 1994
Grant dateNov 19, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 23, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F3/04812
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A cursor is dynamically attached to a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional surface in a CAD system. The system maps input coordinates indicating an initial position and a final position of a cursor to coordinates of a u-v surface representation of a the three-dimensional surface. The u-v coordinates are then mapped to display coordinates. The option to display this cursor on the surface is made by entering a command and by selecting a surface. The cursor preferably includes vectors indicating the magnitude and direction of the slope, and the display includes a window for displaying the u-v representation of the surface. A user can pick points on the surface based on what is visually observed on the display without projecting the point to another surface.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.